Stacker and delivery mechanism for paper products and the like



p 1953 o. F. CHAPLIN ET AL 2,852,989

STACKER AND DELIVERY MECHANISM FOR PAPER PRODUCTS AND THE LIKE FilecLAug. 9, 1954 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Iz'g- .5:

ATTORNEYS p 3, 1958 o. F. CHAPLIN ETAL 2,852,989

STACKER AND DELIVERY MECHANISM FOR PAPERPRODUCTS AND THE LIKE Filed Aug. 9. 1954 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 V INVENTORJ OLIVEZ F CHAPL 1w BY JOSEPH C BER/V5) A T TORNE Y5 Sept. 23, 1958 o. F. CHAPLIN ET AL 2,852,989

STACKER AND DELIVERY MECHANISM FOR PAPER PRODUCTS AND THE 'LIKE Filed Aug. 9, 1954 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 I L v I .52 :3 I if I 53 45 1 4 46 I of jig O I 50- 5a 24 a INVENTORS 0uve F ('HAPLl/V y JOSEPH C BEAM/n ATTORNEYS United States Patent STACKER AND DELIVERY MECHANISM FOR PAPER PRODUCTS AND THE LIKE Oliver F. Chaplin, Portland. and Joseph c. Bel-may,

Beaverton, 0reg., asslguors to Crown Zellerbsch Corv This invention relates to the reception and delivery in orderly stacks of flat paper products that are manufactured or processed on a machine that ordinarily ejects or delivers them one at a time.

One machine with which the invention is effectively used is a fruit pad machine which combines sheets of paper-like material from supply rolls into a pad of sev eral plies and cuts the pad into rectangular units for use as protectors between layers of fruit in a box. This is only one example of many such as bag making machinery, printing machinery and others which eject uniformly shaped paper-like products one at a time to be stacked for use or for further processing. However, the term pad" as used herein is to be understood as referring to a pad, sheet, bag or any uniformly shaped product adapted to be received, stacked and delivered by the mechanism herein to be described.

It is an object of the invention to provide mechanism for receiving pads of the like, maintaining them in an orderly stack and then delivering them away from the receivingmechanism to make room for another stack.

A further object of the invention is to provide mecha- 2,852,989 Patented Sept. 23, 1958 members 11 between which are journaled a feedroller 12 and cooperating wheels indicated at 13 in Fig. l which receive and advance the completed pad in a conventional and well-known manner, this being the last of a series of operations of forming and delivering the pad that is manufactured on the machine.

The stacker and delivery mechanism of the present invention is shown as disposed in a frame work which comprises spaced pairs of vertical members 14 and 15, the vertical members 14 being suitably bolted to the vertical members 10 of the pad forming machine so that the stacker and delivery mechanism is in effect a continuation or part thereof. Suitable beams such as indinism .for automatically ejecting astack from the receiving mechanism when a pre-determined number of pads is received in the stack.

Another object of the invention is to provide means operable during the ejection of one stack to intercept and retain pads on their way into the receiving mechanism during the period that a stack is being ejected therefrom and to release the pads so retained when the receiving mechanism is clear.

The foregoing and further objects and advantages of the invention will be made apparent in the following specification wherein a preferred form of the invention is described in detail by reference to the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a view in side elevation with parts broken away of a stacker and delivery mechanism embodying the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a plan view with parts broken away of the mechanism shown in Fig. l;

Fig. 3 is an end elevation of the same mechanism illustrating the parts in the position which they assume while the pads are being received;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary view illustrating the position assumed by the parts during delivery of a stack of pads; and

Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of a control circuit which cated at 16 connect the vertical members 14 and 15. Feed members are included in the stacker structure and comprise a roller 18 (Fig. 2) and feed wheels 19 in contact therewith so that the pads being ejected from the roller 12 are received between the roller 18 and feed wheels 19 and delivered thereby onto a belt 20 which is, in effect, a table or floor for receiving a stack of pads.

The belt 20 is trained over rollers 21 and 22 which are rotated periodically by means hereinafter to be described for the purpose of advancing a stack of pads when required. Disclosed above the belt 20 is a rectangular receptacle for receiving the pads as they issue one at a time from between the roller 18 and wheels 19. This receptacle is made up of two side walls, a back wall and a front wall. The side and back walls are adjustable to vary the size of the rectangular receptacle for the accommodation of pads or other articles of different sizes that may be made on the machine which precedes the stacker and delivery mechanism. The side walls, which are shown at 24, are in the form of rectangular plates slidably supported on a pair of stationary cross shafts 25. A threaded nut 26 is secured to each side wall and a screw 27 with a hand wheel 28 thereon passes through each of the horizontal frame members 16 and through for varying the width of the rectangular receptacle.

The back wall of the receptacle is in the form of a plate 29, best shown in Fig. 1, as supported by a pair of vertically spaced horizontally disposed shafts 30 which form a carriage and which are slidably received in bearings 31 supported by brackets 32. The rear ends of the Q shafts 30 are rigidly connected as by a bar 33 and they are also connected by a member 34 with a slot 35 therein. A lever 36 is keyed to a shaft 37 and. has a pin 38 thereon projecting into the slot 35 in the member 34.

This shaft 37 is also illustrated in Fig. 2, carries another lever 39 with a roller thereon in engagement with a cam 40 on the same rotating shaft which supportsthe roller 12. The cam 40 has an irregular contour to impart an oscillating motion to the shaft 37 and thus through the member 34 and carriage 30 to oscillate or jiggle the back wall 29 of the rectangular receptacle. This jiggling motion assures the neat stacking of the pads as they fall into the receptacle. The front wall of the rectangular receptacle is made up at its lower portion of a pair of swinging gates shown at 44 in Fig. 2 in their open position and above these gates are a pair of plates 45, see also Fig. 3, which are fixed in a closed position. Within the receptacle is a shelf made up of two sets of plates 46 supported to move between the open position shown in Fig. 3 and the closed position shown in Fig. 4. The level of this shelf in its closed position is adjacent the lower edges of the stationery plates 45 and its function is. to receive the pads when a full stack has been accumulated on the belt 20 and is being advanced through the open gates 44. The gates 44 are supported on pintles 50 in bearing brackets 51 secured to the outer sides of the side plates 24, the

I assaasa pintles 50 being rotatable to efiect opening and closing of the gates and having bevel gears 52 at their upper ends. The shelves 46 are carried by brackets 53% also-supported on a pair of pintles 54 rotatable in bearing brackets 55 mounted on the insides of the side plates 24. The pintles 54 have bevel gears 56 at their ends, see Fig. 2, and these are connected with the bevel gears on the gate pintles for simultaneous operation through the following mechanism.

As shown in Fig. 2, a pair of bevel gears 57 are splined for sliding movement on a cross shaft 58 which extends through the side plates 24 and this shaft also carries bevel gears 59 in mesh with the gears 52 of the gate pintles. Consequently upon rocking of the shaft 58, for example in a counter-clockwise direction as viewed in Fig. l, the gates 44 will be swung 'to their open position and the shelf members 46 will be swung toward each other or to their closed position as shown in Fig. 4, the walls 24 having suitable openings to permit the entry and exit of the shelf members 46. Rocking of the shaft 58 to effect opening and closing the gate members and shelf members is accomplished through a lever 65 at one end of the shaft connected as by link 66, see Fig. l, with the piston of a pneumatic cylinder 67 mounted on one of the frame members 15, the operation and timing of which cylinder is presently to be described.

The delivery belt 20 upon which the pads are stacked is connected with a constantly operating motor or other drive means, not shown, as by a chain 68, see Fig. 3, which drives the shaft upon which the drum 22 is supported. A clutch mechanism, generally indicated at 69 in Fig. 3 and also of conventional construction is interposed between the sprocket of the chain 68 and the shaft to interrupt the driving of the cylinder 22 and belt 20. This clutch includes a throw-out collar 70 and a lever 80 or actuating the same. This lever has a yoke 81 therein as best shown in Fig. l which embraces and operates the throw-out collar. The lower end of the lever 80 is connected as by a link 82 with the piston 83 of a pneumatic cylinder 84. The cylinder 84 and the cylinder 67 are actuated'simultaneously so that the belt 20 is set in motion at the same time that the gates 44 are opened and the shelves 46 come into operative position.

in operation pads from the pad forming machine are delivered through the feed rollers and deposited one at a time within the rectangular receptacle. The pads are counted by a mechanism that will be described and when a predetermined number has been deposited in the reccptaclc, the front gates 24 are opened and the belt 20 is set in motion to deliver the stack of pads forwardly onto a table or other convenient place where they may be removed by an operator for packaging or for some further treatment. Simultaneously with the closing of the gates 24, the shelves 46 move into place to occupy the position illustrated in Fig. 4 and thereby to receive the pads which h continue to issue from the pad forming machine during the brief period of delivery of the counted stack. When the belt 20 is advanced a suflicient distance to remove the stack from the receptacle, the front gates 44 close, the shelves 46 recede to drop the partial stack which they have collected onto the belt 20 and the cycle of operation continues in the manner described.

The manner in which the pneumatic cylinder 67 is actu ated and timed for operating the shelves 46 and gates 44 and the manner in which the clutch-cylinder 84 is actuated is illustrated in Fig. which is a schematic view of the control circuit. in this figure, a cam 90 with the depression 91 therein is illustrated as operating a microswitch 92 through a lever 93 with a roller 94 engaging the periphery of the cam. The cam 90, the position of which is illustrated in Fig. 1, is driven through a gear reduction box 95 (Fig. 2) connected as by sprockets and a chain 96 with the same shaft upon which the delivery feed roller 12 is mounted. Consequently each time the feed roller 12 delivers a predetermined number of pads, say for example 250 to form a stack, the cam 90 will, through the reduction gearing employed, complete a single revolution and the microswitch 92 will be closed. This completes a circuit through conductors shown at 97 in Fig. 5 to actuate an electro-magnetically controlled air valve 98 for supplying air under pressure to the pneumatic cylinders 67 and 84. A second micro-switch 100 is also employed and has an actuating lever 101 with a roller 102 riding on the periphery of a cam 103. The cam 103 (see also Fig. 3) is carried on and driven by the same shaft which carries the roller 22 for the belt 20. The size of the cam 103 issuch that a depression 104 therein effects actuation of the microswitch 100 when the belt 20 has moved a sufiicient distance to deliver a stack of pads from within the rectangular enclosure. As shown in Fig. 5, the microswitch 100 is normally closed but when the circuit has been closed by the micro-switch 92 to deliver air to the actuating cylinders 67 and 84 the same circuit will be open as soon as the stack of pads has been delivered through the operation of the cam 103. The electro-magnetically actuated valve 98 is in the form of a cylinder with a spool 105 therein operating past the air inlets and outlets in the cylinder Wall. Air under pressure from a suitable source of supply is introduced to the cylinder through a line 106 and directed to the actuating cylinders through lines 107 and 108. A vent line 109 may be connected with a line 110 and a line 111 which vent the cylinders. The normal position of the valve is that shown in Fig. 5 with the vent lines in communication through a suitable groove in the spool 105 and the inlet lines closed by the spool. Movement of the spool toward the right as'viewed in this figure upon energization of the electric circuit will effect communication between the lines 106 and 107 and at the same time close the vent lines. In this manner, the automatic delivery of a stack of pads is eifected each time the number of pads in the stack reaches a predetermined value.

We claim:

In combination with a machine for fors'iiing paper pads or the like, a receptacle for pads to retain them in a stack as they issue from the machine, an advanceable endless belt forming a floor for the receptacle, gate means to open one wall of the receptacle, shelf means moveable into and out of the receptacle above the floor thereof to support pads forming a second stack while the first stack is being delivered, means to count pads as they issue from the machine and enter the receptacle, means actuated by said counting means and effective upon the presence of a predetermined number of pads in the stack to open said gate means and advance said belt to deliver the stack out of the receptacle and move said shelf means into the receptacle, and means actuated upon movement of said belt a predetermined distance to close the gate means, remove the shelf means from the receptacle and stop the movement of the belt.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

